FAQs

Using an SSL certificate is a very important security factor if you use or collect sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, email accounts, etc… If you have an SSL certificate installed all this information will be encrypted and the connection between the web browser and your web server will be secure and encrypted.

Log in to your DirectAdmin control panel, go to ‘User Level’, and select the domain name you want to install the SSL certificate for. Then, click ‘SSL certificates’ under Advanced Features. 

If SSL is disabled for the selected domain as shown in the picture below, you need to enable it by clicking ‘here’ 

In order to buy an SSL certificate you need to have a certificate signing request (CSR) for the specific domain. So, check the second radio button, select ‘Create A Certificate Request’ and fill the form with all necessary information 

After you enter all the information, click the ‘save’ button, and the CSR along with a private key will be generated. Don’t forget to copy both the CSR and the private key and save them on your local computer 

You can also manually create a certificate signing request and private key. Log in to your server as user ‘root’ and execute the following commands 

/usr/bin/openssl genrsa 2048 > private.key 

/usr/bin/openssl req -new -key private.key 

You will be prompted to enter information such as country code, state, city, domain name, etc.. 

Once the certificate signing request is created you can proceed and buy an SSL certificate for your domain name. After the SSL certificate is issued, you can continue with the installation in DirectAdmin. 

Open the ‘SSL Certificates’ menu again and check the third radio button ‘Paste a pre-generated certificate and key’. Now, copy the private key and the SSL certificate you bought and paste them both into the text box. Begin with the private key followed by the SSL certificate and click save. 

Most of the certificate authorities have trusted root certificates, so we will need to install that certificate too. 

Go to the ‘SSL Certificates’ menu again, click ‘Click Here to paste a CA Root Certificate’, check the ‘Use a CA cert’ check box, paste the root certificate in the text box, and click Save. 

That’s all. If you have followed the steps above, an SSL certificate should be successfully installed for your domain name.